Visage, the bound form of Necro'lic, is a rangedintelligencehero whose traits are unusual when compared to most intelligence heroes; he can be a ganker, tank, or nuker. Resilient and ruthless, Visage is a highly aggressive hero thanks to his great Strength gain and Gravekeeper's Cloak which allow him to soak up surprising amounts of damage. This is especially true from attacks mounted by Heroes who try to chip at his health with spells and burst damage without committing to a protracted engagement. This unholy gargoyle thrives in the midst of large battles, where the abundant pain and suffering in the air charges his Soul Assumption, allowing him to fire off huge bursts of magical damage in rapid succession. Additionally, Visage's proficiency with auto-attacks is augmented by his ability to absorb the attack and movement speed of his foes with Grave Chill. Finally, his versatile ultimate, Familiars, is arguably one of the best scouting utilities in the game while also being excellent sources of damage and AoE disables. Utilizing his Familiars to their fullest requires constant split attention and good positioning to avoid feeding their large bounties to an enemy Hero. With a legion of ghostly gargoyles, incredible toughness, and fast attacks, Visage sows terror and agony, relentlessly hunting poor souls and leading them in the shackles of death to the gates of the Underscape.

Perched atop the entrance to the Narrow Maze sit the looming shapes of sneering gargoyles, the paths into the hereafter forever in their gaze. Beasts and birds, men and monsters, all creatures that die and choose to travel beyond must someday pass beneath their sight. For an untethered spirit, the decision to journey through the veil of death is irrevocable. When chance comes, and by craft or cunning some restless soul escapes their hells and heavens, it is the dreaded gargoyle Visage, the bound form of the eternal spirit Necro’lic, who is dispatched to reclaim them. Ruthless and efficient, unhindered by the principles of death and fatigue, Visage stalks its prey without mercy or end, willingly destroying all which may give shelter to the fugitive essence. That which flaunts the laws of the afterlife may never rest, for while it is true that the dead may be revived, it is only a matter of time before Visage finds and returns them to their proper place.

Conjures two blind Familiars to fight for Visage. Familiars possess the Stone Form ability, that allows them to turn into stone, stunning enemies upon landing. While in Stone Form, Familiars are invulnerable, and rapidly regenerate their health. Familiars grant high bounty when killed.

Cast Animation: 0+0

Number of Familiars: 2 (3)

Familiar Duration: Permanent

130

150

Summons 3 familiars.

Modifiers

Summon Familiars Damage Charge: Undispellable.

Guardians of the Narrow Maze, Necro'lic's Familiars stand watch over his domain.

After a short delay, the Familiar turns into stone and smashes into the ground, stunning and damaging all targets in the area. The Familiar becomes invulnerable, and will regain its health very rapidly. After 6 seconds, the Familiar will automatically leave Stone Form.

Cast Animation: 0+0

Effect Radius: 350

Effect Delay: 0.55

Health Regen Bonus: 150/175/200

Damage: 60/100/140

Stun Duration: 1/1.25/1.5

Stone Form Duration: 6

14

Modifiers

Rooted: Dispellable with any dispel.

Summon Familiars Stone Form Buff: Undispellable.

Summonfamiliars Timer: Undispellable.

Stunned: Dispellable with strong dispels.

Notes:

During the effect delay, the Familiar is rooted and disarmed, being prevented from moving or attacking.

After the effect delay, the Familiar's health regeneration is heavily boosted, it is turned invulnerable and it gets disabled.

The area stun and damage are applied right after the effect delay as well.

The stun and damage location is determined upon landing, not upon cast.

When a Familiar dies during the effect delay, the area damage and stun are not applied, but the visual effects still appear.

The Stone Form's duration is indicated by a yellow number above the Familiar. This number is visible to Visage only.

Clarity allows Visage to maintain his mana in order to cast his spells in the laning phase, particularly Soul Assumption, which costs roughly half of his base mana pool and can be important for securing kills during ganks.

Ring of Protection mitigates Visage's poor base armor, giving him resistance to physical harass damage in the early game when he has no levels in Gravekeeper's Cloak. It also builds into a Ring of Basilius from the Side Lane Shop without being forced to return to base or use the courier.

Iron Branch is cheap and give Visage a small amount of attributes, a useful way to spend his remaining gold. They can be used with Tango for more health restoration, sold for inventory space, or built into Magic Wand or Mekansm.

Observer Ward gives map vision and allows Visage to better position his Familiars to take advantage of gank opportunities. It can also spot incoming enemy ganks and other map movements.

Sentry Ward allows Visage to take map vision away from the enemy; as well, Familiars can use their small vision radius to scout high ground areas for enemy wards after placing a Sentry Ward on lower ground to cover more detection area.

Early game:

Boots of Speed are necessary to rectify Visage's poor movement speed. Getting boots as early as possible in the laning phase allows Visage to pursue enemies during ganks, particularly to get within range to cast Grave Chill to slow them.

Magic Stick is a useful burst healing/mana item if the enemies in lane will be casting many spells. It can later be built into a Magic Wand.

Ring of Basilius, upgraded from Ring of Protection, gives Visage's lane increased physical survivability and some mana regeneration to sustain spell casting. Past the laning stage, it can be disassembled and the Sage's Mask recycled for other items.

Medallion of Courage is a powerful utility support item in Visage's hands. The item provides armor and mana regeneration, giving Visage more survivability and maintaining his mana pool. The active allows him to either buff up an ally's armor to help them in fights, or reduce an enemy's armor to increase the amount of damage they take from allies, Visage's attacks, and most importantly his Summon Familiars.

Mid game:

Power Treads is a well-rounded boots upgrade that gives Visage many useful benefits. It boosts his attack speed to allow him to utilize his physical attacks more often, boosted further by Grave Chill, and the attribute switching allows him to give himself more health or more mana and base damage depending on the situation.

Magic Wand, built up from Magic Stick, gives Visage bonus attributes and increased charge storage for burst regeneration. As a support, Visage can benefit greatly from both if lacking farm.

Solar Crest, upgraded from Medallion of Courage, provides many of the same benefits. The increased armor and mana regeneration give Visage even more tankiness and helps keep his mana topped up even in the late game, while the evasion allows him to dodge attacks and prevent the enemy from easily wearing down Gravekeeper's Cloak charges. The active also works to give teammates even more survivability or increasing enemies' vulnerability to Familiar attacks.

Late game:

Aghanim's Scepter is a powerful item for Visage, as an extra Familiar will increase his burst damage output by 50%, as well as allowing for increased stagger stun duration with Stone Form. The item also provides Visage with all-around attributes, giving him more health and mana.

Rod of Atos provides Visage with more health, more intelligence for mana and base damage, and a long-ranged root on a low cooldown. It can greatly increase Visage's ability to chase down foes as he can root them at long range with the active, then use Familiar's Stone From to stun, and finish off with Grave Chill for more movement speed slow.

Assault Cuirass greatly boosts Visage's armor and attack speed, making him a strong presence in teamfights and ganks. The aura can boost his Familiars' attack speed and reduce enemies' armor to allow the Familiars' attacks to deal additional damage.

Ghost Scepter makes Visage invulnerable to physical attacks, so he can survive to use more abilities and items.

Force Staff gives Visage more intelligence, increasing his base damage and the size of his mana pool, and provides some health regeneration. The active allows Visage to quickly re-position himself to cast his spells during ganks and fights, and can act as an escape if needed. It can also be cast on teammates caught out of position in order to save them.

Mekansm gives Visage increased utility and allows him to further support his team through healing them. The increased attributes and armor also vastly boost Visage's durability, making him tankier in fights and allowing him to contribute more.

Pipe of Insight can give Visage increased survivability and utility for his team. The magic resistance allows Visage to weather magic nukes more effectively when Gravekeeper's Cloak is down, and the magic barrier can shield teammates from magic damage during fights.

Guardian Greaves is a very powerful support item that gives Visage powerful utility in teamfights. The increased attributes and aura make Visage much tankier, and he can heal himself while also removing negative debuffs with the active.

Orchid Malevolence is a useful semi-carry item with an easy buildup that increases Visage's ganking prowess depending on the enemy lineup. It gives Visage many useful benefits, including physical damage output, more mana and powerful mana regeneration. The silence can prevent enemies from casting escape spells during ganks, and deal powerful burn damage from Visage's powerful burst damage at the end of the silence.

Bloodthorn is upgraded from Orchid Malevolence, giving critical strike and true strike on affected targets, synergizing well with armor reduction of Solar Crest to shred enemies.

Nullifier's slow will be applied when a familiar attacks the target and since the slow duration is the same as the attack time for familiars the slow can be applied to the target for the entire mute duration. This item can also be applied along with an Orchid or Bloodthorn to effectively debuff an enemy to the same effect as a Scythe of Vyse but for a longer duration and with the added effect from Bloodthorn's guaranteed crits and Soul Rend effect.

Lotus Orb's Echo Shell deters enemy heroes from using single-target abilities on Visage or affected allies for fear of reflection. Otherwise, it grants armor and regeneration so Visage can survive in battles a little longer.

Scythe of Vyse is a strong support item that, while expensive, provides extremely strong benefits. The all-around attributes, larger mana pool and increased mana regeneration allow Visage to better contribute in teamfights, and the instant hard-disable can be crucial for getting off successful ganks and disabling important targets in teamfights.

Shiva's Guard boosts Visage's survivability against physical damage and greatly improves his mana pool and base damage. The active can be used as a slow and nuke, further slowing an enemy alongside Grave Chill and building up damage for Soul Assumption.

Perched atop the Narrow Maze was Visage, a dreadful gargoyle form to which the eternal spirit Necro'lic was bound. Tasked with hunting down those who escape the afterlife, Visage instills a Grave Chill in his prey, impairing them as he reaps their essence with Soul Assumption. Protected by a Gravekeeper's Cloak, the gargoyle's ablative layers deflect both steel and spells. Visage's Familiars circle above, scouting the land for runaways. On his command, they harass their prey, then drop down to earth in Stone Form to restrain the captive for their master's impending arrival.

Visage has one of the most numerous ability remakes in the game, with Grave Chill being his only mainstay:

Soul Assumption, in an earlier version, was an autocast enabled attack modifier where he will deal bonus damage and steal the life of his enemies upon death, healing him and leaving no corpse.

Gravekeeper's Cloak used to be a passive aura where allies in the area will be healed when Visage takes damage, physical or magical.

Raise Revenants, his former ultimate, lets him summon up to eight pitch-black, gargoyle-shaped spirits from a corpse. It was likely changed because of it being a very effective scouting tool that makes map control easier. The Revenants had good vision range, a flying attribute, and can be resummoned easily since the ability neither cost a lot of mana nor had a long cooldown. This, along with the fact that the Revenants did not do a lot of damage on their own (attack modifier limits their damage to one-third the stated amount against heroes) and no special abilities give them very limited usage in combat situations.

Visage's rival line towards Keeper of the LightPlay "You shall not pass!" is a direct quote from Gandalf, a character from The Lord of the Rings. This reference is due to the similarities between Keeper of the Light and Gandalf.[1]

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